Startups you may now buy

   Twitter’s IPO is about to turn a handful of early investors into happy millionaires. Let me explain in 140 characters or less why this should upset you:

You can go to Vegas and put $1,000 on red, but securities laws from the 1930s make investing in startups illegal for most people. While Washington is (naturally) taking its time to change those laws, Georgia has already legalized “equity crowdfunding.”

This means you can now invest small amounts of money into local companies that you want to see succeed in exchange for actual shares of their businesses. Think Kickstarter meets eTrade.